Dermatophyte prevalence in tools of 43 hairdressing salons in Copenhagen

Abstract

Dermatophyte infection of the scalp (tinea capitis) mainly affects pre-pubertal children. Adults might be asymptomatic carriers. Infection caused by anthropophilic dermatophytes can cause epidemics, as conidia from an infected patient are easily spread to others. The prevalence of asymptomatic carriage differs geographically, ranging from 0.1–49.0% (1). In Denmark, the anthropophilic dermatophytes Trichophyton violaceum and T. tonsurans caused approximately 45% of the dermatophyte infections at the beginning of the 20th century. The prevalence of these species declined in the 1930s, when Microsporum canis became the most commonly identified pathogen of tinea capitis. Recently, M. canis has been superseded as the most common cause of tinea capitis by the endemic anthropophilic dermatophyte T. violaceum1. This trend has also been observed in other Nordic countries, primarily among immigrants from endemic areas, e.g. Africa and the Middle East (2–6). Hairdressing salons have consistently been found to be a reservoir of anthropophilic dermatophytes (6–9). We therefore conducted a study of hairdressing salons serving a mixed population of immigrants and native Danes.